A Very Boring Christmas Sermon

Introduction: This is a type of Bible passage that most of us try to avoid. It is so repetitive that our brains almost automatically turn off as we read them.

Abraham begat Isaac

Isaac begat Jacob

and before we know it we are simply reading

and so and so begat so and so

However, there is one very important reason to stick with even these kinds of passages. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

There are important reasons why the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew and others to include genealogies in their books.

It was not Matthew’s purpose to create a complete family record of all of Jesus’ ancestors. In fact Matthew purposefully skips a number of generations probably for the sake of brevity. Matthew makes clear his purpose for this genealogy in verse one, that is, to connect Jesus to both Abraham and David.

Three Historical Landmarks

The Abrahamic Covenant

Matthew’s first goal is to connect Jesus back to Abraham and therefore the Abrahamic Covenant.

The Abrahamic Covenant, recorded in Genesis 12 and 18, is a three part unconditional promise by God to Abraham and his descendants. It is one of the most important passages of Scripture for understanding the rest of Scripture and God’s overall plan for the world. It contains three parts:

Land

Seed

Blessing - God tells Abraham “through you all the world will be blessed.” Matthew’s goal is for us to understand that Jesus is that blessing.

Secondly, on the journey between Abraham and David, Matthew establishes that Jesus is of the tribe of Judah.

The Davidic Covenant

The line that Matthew establishes takes us from Abraham in verse 2 to David in verse 6. Like with Abraham Matthew does this to show that Jesus is at least in part some fulfillment of a promise that God made to David.

That promise is usually referred to as the Davidic covenant and is found the first time in 2 Samuel 7:12-13 “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

God’s promise to David included these things

A Descendant

An Established Throne

An Eternal Throne

If the promise ended with the first two then we would be able to conclude that Solomon, David’s son, was the fulfillment of this promise. However, it is impossible to say that Solomon or even his sons reigned forever. Thus there must be another descendant of David who will fulfill all three part of this promise.

Matthew’s goal is for you to understand Jesus as the fulfillment of this promise. Luke also focuses on Jesus’ royal linage in his account of Jesus’ birth.

Luke 1:32 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

Luke 1:69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant—

The Babylonian Captivity

There is another covenant that God made with Israel. This covenant unlike the Abrahamic and Davidic is not unconditional.

The Mosaic Covenant was God’s promise to Israel that if they would keep the law He would bless them and keep them, but if they fail to obey then they would be punished. Deut 28:58-64

The Babylonian captivity was the fulfillment of that promise because Israel did not keep the law as they promised to do at Mount Sinai.

How does Jesus relate to the Babylonian captivity. By the time Jesus was born they were no longer in captivity in Babylon, but while they were back in the land of Israel they were still in captivity just to Rome rather than Babylon.

The great unifying belief in Israel was that the Messiah would release them from their captivity.

Illustration: O come, O come, Immanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.

Did Jesus ransom captive Israel? Yes, but in the first coming of Christ it wasn’t in the way that they wanted. He offered freedom from the captivity of sin and He was largely rejected. He will reign as a King on David’s throne and Israel will be free, but for that we await His second coming. The truth is that the Christmas season isn’t properly celebrated without keeping an eye on the second coming of Christ.

Two Cultural Considerations

Women in the Genealogy

This genealogy not only contains four women, but four women that no self respecting Jew would want in their genealogy.

Tamar

Cananite

Daughter in law to Judah

God had taken the lives of her husband, Er, and of his next oldest brother, Onan, because of their wickedness. Judah then promised the young, childless widow that his third son, Shelah, would become her husband and raise up children in his brother’s name when he grew up. After Judah failed to keep that promise, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and tricked him into having sexual relations with her. From that illicit union were born twin sons, Perez and Zerah. The sordid story is found in Genesis 38.

Rahab

Gentile

Prostitute by profession

Rahab, an inhabitant of Jericho, protected the two Israelite men Joshua sent to spy out the city. She lied to the messengers of the king of Jericho in order to save the spies; but because of her fear of Him and her kind act toward His people, God spared her life and the lives of her family when Jericho was besieged and destroyed (Josh. 2:1–21; 6:22–25). God’s grace not only spared her life but brought her into the messianic line, as the wife of Salmon and the mother of the godly Boaz, who was David’s great-grandfather.

Ruth

Gentile / Moabitess

Widowed at a young age

Ruth was a godly woman who had accepted the Lord as her own God. She loved her mother in law Naomi and followed her back to Israel where she met Boaz and married into the royal line.

Bathsheba

Probably an Israelite but no genealogy is given for her.

Adulterer and possibly complicit in her husbands murder

Failures in the Genealogy

All twelve of Jacobs sons became failures at one point or another.

Davids sons fared no better

A careful look at the descendants both of Abraham and of David (vv. 2–16) reveals people who were often characterized by unfaithfulness, immorality, idolatry, and apostasy. But God’s dealing with them was always characterized by grace.

Three Personal Considerations

The genealogy of Jesus proves that God is sovereignly equipped to keep His promises.

The genealogy of Jesus proves that God uses actual people not perfect people.

The genealogy of Jesus proves that God does not work on our timetable.